FACTORS AFFECTING THE PROFITABILITY OF POULTRY EGG PRODUCTION IN SOUTHWEST NIGERIA. AN APPLICATION OF QUANTILE REGRESSION

This study investigated the key factors affecting the profitability of poultry egg production in Southwest, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select 360 egg farmers using a structured questionnaire. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics showed that the mean age of egg farmers was 45 years. Majority (68.3%) of the farmers were male households. Over half (57.8%) of the farmers had tertiary school education and majority (85.0%) of them were married. The distribution of flock size showed that majority of the farmers was medium-scale poultry farmers. The result revealed that egg production is profitable. Results of the quantile regression revealed that farmer’s age, farm size, price per crate of egg, cost of drugs as well as farm location had positive significant impacts on farm income at various quantiles. However, education, experience and household size, costs of labour, feed and day-old-chicks were identified to have negative but significant impact on farm income across the quantiles.